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Category Archive: Reviews

David sent me this wonderful book on the day Sue and I were leaving for Summerfest. I had time to open the package and scan the contents before heading for the airport. With all the lugage. . . nearly all Susan’s of course. . . I forgot to put the book into my backpack! My …

This year’s Winterfest featured, what I consider to be, a very interesting and important self-defense topic and test.The ability to combine a calm alertness with the skill to go from a normal walking or standing posture into a reaction-ready fighting mode able to deliver a strike within a fraction of a second . I’ve been training …

Shinjo Kiyohide and Shai Hai produced this exceptionally interesting and important DVD during Kiyohide sensei’s recent visit to Israel. I highly recommend the DVD to all martial art enthusiasts and of course. . . a “must have” for all Uechi-ryu practitioners. The Master’s Edition is a a martial arts film/artistic documentary that reflects the …

The Swordsman’s Handbook is the definitive collection of writings that reveals the study of swordsmanship not only is essential to life and death, but as transcendent of life and death as well. All of the authors of this book taught that dealing with conflict is an art that requires grace and courage. In …

A biography of the founder of Kodokan judo, Jigoro Kano, “The Way of Judo” benefits from the eventful and insightful life of its subject, but unfortunately proves to be a difficult read. John Stevens, the book’ author, writes in a flatly impersonal and didactic style, stuffed with encyclopaedic details and anecdotes, and learning about Kano …

Includes spoilers for ‘The Walking Dead’ At a gun violence prevention hearing on January 30th, 2012, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) cited a possible “lawless environment in this country” as an example of when a legally owned military-grade assault rifles, and other firearms, would come in handy. “I have an AR-15 at home,” Graham continued, “I …

We never really know anything about Maya (a wonderful Jessica Chastain), except that she’s a CIA agent on the all-consuming hunt for the world’s most wanted man and that underneath her pale, fragile features lies a steely and quasi-desperate determinism that won’t be discouraged. Over the long years that Zero Dark Thirty effortlessly spans, you’ll …

It must be said, and it has been, that Skyfall, the new James Bond film, is beautiful. Like, really, really beautiful. The cinematography is from the legendary Roger Deakins, so that visual wonder is to be expected, and yet it still manages occasionally to take your breath away on the strength on it alone. If …

The city of Mogadishu, in famine stricken Somalia. It’s 1995 and a joint task force of Army Rangers, Delta Force, and the 160th SOAR, here to support UN peacekeeping operations against the militia of Mohammed Farrah Aidid, organize a quick strike raid into the city to capture some of the local warlord’s top lieutenants. It …